Vitamin E requirement of growing swine.

The vitamin E requirement of growing pigs was estimated on the basis of prevention of morphological signs of deficiency. Five groups of pigs were fed a barley-based diet low in vitamin E that contained 16 mg of DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate equivalents/kg and .1 ppm of Se for 4 wk (depletion I). This period was followed by 7 wk of supplementation, during which the groups received 0, 15, 45, 135 and 405 mg of supplemental DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/kg diet. Finally, all the animals were fed the low vitamin E diet for 7 wk (depletion II). To follow the vitamin E concentration in serum and tissues, blood samples were collected and biopsies were taken from skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and the liver throughout the experiment. The peak vitamin E value was observed in the liver, followed by the adipose tissue and then skeletal muscle. The liver responded rapidly to changes in dietary vitamin E intake, whereas the adipose tissue and the skeletal muscle reacted at a slower rate. In spite of the abundant occurrence of the different vitamin E isomers in the feed, alpha-tocopherol was the main isomer detected both in the serum and in the tissues. The activity of glutathione peroxidase in serum increased with age but was independent of the serum vitamin E concentration. In the unsupplemented group all animals suffered from the vitamin E and Se deficiency syndrome (VESD) in an acute or chronic form. A total of 31 mg of DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/kg diet (16 mg of naturally occurring vitamin E and 15 mg as supplementation) equivalent to 2.5 IU vitamin E/g polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) was enough to prevent the development of VESD. In view of the large individual variations of vitamin E concentration in target organs, and to obtain a certain safety margin for prevention of VESD in growing pigs, a supplement of 30 mg of DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/kg diet is recommended.